Govt to speed up pace of CPEC, seeks foreign investment: Khusro

ISLAMABAD, Oct 2 (APP):Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Khusro Bakhtiar Tuesday said the government would speed up pace of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and seek investment of other countries, including Saudi Arabia, for the infrastructure projects related to CPEC.
Speaking at a press conference here flanked by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, he said the relationship of Pakistan and China was spread over decades and their strategic ties had started in the Ayub Khan era.
He said the main project of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEP) was Gwadar port, but the previous government paid little attention to it.
The pace of CPEC project would be increased and all facilities would be made available to increase the trade activity, he added.
He said the world was going through industrial relocation and China would set up industry in the nine specialized industrial zones in Pakistan under CPEC.
He informed that a new oil refinery would be set up in Gwadar to meet the country’s energy needs.
Khusro said that Pakistan had $ 16 billion of oil imports, which would be decreased by 50 % after establishment of the oil refinery.
He said PML-N was in government for 18 years and Pakistan Peoples Party was in power for 15 years, but they both failed to put economy on the right track, adding the PTI was a reformist government and had set for itself the task of putting economy on the higher growth trajectory.
He lamented that loans of Pakistan had reached Rs 28,000 billion and total debt was 72 percent of the GDP.
He said only 70,000 people were burdened with direct taxes while indirect taxes were paid by the remaining population.
The last government had the advantage of low international oil prices and it got financial space of $32 billion, but it was still to be ascertained which sectors got benefit of that, he added.
He noted that the private sector investment was low during the previous government as little commercial loans were available for that sector, external debt grew and the money was spent on projects of one’s choice and PML-N created artificial growth, he noted.
The minister said the previous government did not pay the circular debt of Rs 583 billion inherited by it and after five years the circular debt grew to Rs 1200 billion and no cure was found for line losses of the power sector, adding PML-N government had set an example of bad governance, hoodwinked the people and only focused on high visibility projects like Orange train.
He said in the budget 2017-18, the previous government allocated Rs 1001 billion for the development projects, but only released Rs 661 billion for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), slashing the original allocation by 34 percent.
As many as 450 schemes were made part of the PSDP and 343 of which were not formally approved and only Rs 55 billion were allocated for these projects, the minister said. The inclusion of these 343 projects was to put a financial burden of Rs 2000 billion on the budgetary resources.
Khusro said the PTI after coming into power ended discretionary funds and blocked allocations.
He reminded that in 1985 Pakistan produced 52 percent of its electricity from hydel sources and now that percentage had reduced to 26 percent and the dependency on imported fuel had risen.
He said instead of putting money into projects like Orange Train the funds should have been spent on upgrading Peshawar-Karachi railway line and increasing speed of trains to 160 km per hour.
Development of human resources would be top agenda of the incumbent government for socio-economic development of the country, he said and added, the government would set a clear direction for the economy to ensure progress and prosperity of the people.

Khusro Bakhtiar informed that in the past, loans amounting to $six billion were acquired for the CPEC projects, while the remaining investment was in the IPP mode for the CPEC projects worth $ 50 billion, out of which $28 billion were for energy projects and the remaining for infrastructure projects, he added.
To a question regarding the auction of Ishaq Dar’s property, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the government would move ahead to recover the looted money.
He said that Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) would launch a massive campaign against the non-filers of income tax returns.
The statement attributed to Rana Mashhood of PML-N in media about change in government was merely a speculation, he added.